Conservation in the Age of Sustainability

Mark Hines

A computer-generated view of the finished Broadcasting House development, which is due for completion in 2012
(Photo: Hayes Davidson)

As Britain faces the challenges posed
by climate change, economic austerity
and affordable housing shortages, it
should be increasingly clear that we need to
find appropriate ways of upgrading existing
buildings rather than constructing new ones.
Building less is an obvious way to preserve
precious resources.

Grade I and II* listed buildings present
major challenges for those attempting to
upgrade their environmental performance.
However, they represent only a small
proportion of our overall building stock, so it
is arguable that they should be left well alone.
Sustainability is about more than just energy
consumption, and perhaps the key challenge
with these buildings is finding ways to keep
them in use.

On the other hand, there is a vast stock
of unlisted 19th and 20th century buildings
that quietly contributes to the character of our
towns and cities. These buildings may be less
architecturally significant than those that are
listed, but they also offer greater scope for reuse
and environmental upgrading. Making the best
use of this excellent, if undervalued, resource
means adapting these older buildings to the
demands of modern use, balancing in the
process a sensitive and informed appreciation
of original fabric with an inventive approach
to design.

BROADCASTING HOUSE

A new general-purpose studio at Broadcasting House

The BBC’s Council Chamber, now restored to its former glory (Photos: Tim Crocker)

Back in 2000, at a time when climate change was
becoming a mainstream issue, I found myself
running a substantial part of the £1.1 billion
project to refurbish the BBC’s Broadcasting
House in central London, for MJP Architects. The
corporation’s Grade II* listed headquarters were
in a sorry state. The rumble of underground
trains could be heard in its radio studios. When
the windows were opened to let in much-needed
cool air, the traffic noise from Portland
Place came in with it. The low ceilings were so
crammed with wires that it was impossible to
get a tape measure between them. The original
home of the BBC, completed in 1932, had been
described by the Royal Academy as ‘hopelessly
obsolete’, no good for broadcasting, and fit only
for administrative operations.

Today, however, Broadcasting House is
the state-of-the-art, environmentally efficient
new home of Radio 3 and Radio 4. The
refurbishment saw new technology sensitively
installed, new studio floors laid, narrow office
floor plans opened up and four new floors
added on the roof. Furthermore, the project
achieved a BREEAM (Building Research
Establishment Environmental Assessment
Method) ‘excellent’ rating.

The project proved that even in a
building which is as technically demanding as
Broadcasting House, the 21st century can still
be accommodated with minimal impact on
historic significance.

The lesson was a powerful and uplifting
one: if a you can save a building like
Broadcasting House in the digital age, you
ought to be able to save anything.

TERRACED HOUSING

Large office buildings like Broadcasting House
make a substantial contribution to global
warming, but the figure is dwarfed by the
contribution made by housing. One solution is
to replace old houses with new, energy-efficient
designs, and the government’s notorious
Pathfinder programme of 2003 proposed
the demolition of 90,000 homes, including
thousands of Victorian and Edwardian terraces.
Appalled by the proposal, SAVE Britain’s
Heritage commissioned Mark Hines Architects
(MHA) to explore the possible reuse of 500
houses in the centre of Manchester which had
been scheduled for demolition.

The original terraced houses in question
were small, but the basics were right. The
houses were modest, two-up-two-downs, each
with a private garden. In this study for SAVE,
MHA suggested a number of ways in which the
houses could be improved for less than £10,000
each. MHA proposed that the houses should be
given small extensions, using reclaimed bricks,
hemp, and living (planted) walls. The extensions
would allow bathrooms to be placed upstairs
while retaining good-sized second bedrooms.
This would make the houses much more flexible
and attractive to the market.

Proposed reuse of terraced houses in central Manchester

The proposals build on the social
opportunities that small terraced houses in a
narrow street can bring. They were intended to
develop close-knit communities, with the new
sites at terrace ends becoming either family
houses, recycling points or small power plants
providing heating and energy for each street.

There was no attempt to impose a grand
vision on the area – one that would have been
subject to the vagaries of changing economic
fortunes. Instead, the proposal was a simple,
small idea that grew out of the specific context
of the area, to help build a small but self-sustaining
community.

The project could
provide a template for more widespread
application. It demonstrated that by creating
an attractive vision for an area it is possible to
save houses and energy. It also showed how
conservation skills and knowledge could be
used to solve technical problems.

THE 4C PAVILION

The regeneration of urban areas often requires
new buildings to be constructed beside old
ones. The challenge of introducing new
build – and new design – alongside historic
buildings lies in balancing modern aesthetics
and performance requirements with a respect
for historic fabric and the existing streetscape.
Meeting strict sustainability criteria in the
new elements is relatively easy; achieving a
successful integration of new and old can be
far more demanding. The 4C Pavilion, a new
community building in Ashton-under-Lyne,
Manchester, illustrates one solution. Situated
within the grounds of a Grade II listed church,
it is a modern design, but one that is rooted in
an interest in conservation and historic building
materials. It is a building that combines
traditional form and materials with 21st century
performance.

The pavilion was designed on a very limited
budget, which is no bad thing in that it ensures
that all decisions are well thought through. The
building has hemp- and lime-rendered walls,
and for much of the year will not need heating.
The adjacent Victorian church will generate
electricity not only for itself, but also for the
new building and even a surplus that can be
sold. The solar panels on the huge roof of the
church will soon be making money as a power
generator for the area.

The highly bio-diverse, grass-sewn pavilion
roof helps to anchor the building in its
churchyard setting, but it also provides a habitat
for insects, birds and local plant species. This
project will be one of the first A+ energy rated
buildings in the United Kingdom. Even though it
is has not yet been completed, Sustain Magazine recently called the 4C Pavilion one of the top ten
best natural buildings in the country.

MATERIALS AND PERFORMANCE

When we build, when we invest our precious
resources, it is important that we build well. A
building’s aesthetic is linked to its performance.
At the 4C Pavilion, the objective was to make a
building that would feel like it was built to last;
the fact that it uses little energy is a bonus. To
put it another way, sustainable building design
is not just about performance, but about how
users respond to the building. The quality of the direct emotional impact they have on us
(soft to the touch, warm and able to grow old
gracefully) are living, human qualities.

Traditional materials tend to be
environmentally friendly: high quality local
materials generally last. But we should also
be creative, and try to use these materials in
new ways. Materials such as lime mortars
and renders which were rediscovered and
developed for conserving historic buildings are
slowly entering use in the wider construction
industry. The Building Conservation Directory has long been an invaluable resource for those
working in conservation, it may well prove to
have a wider readership in the mainstream
construction and refurbishment industries.

Design for the 4C Pavilion, an ambitious new community building planned for Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester

But we also need to be careful. Architecture
may be a practical art, but it is also a science.
I seem to spend an awful lot of my time
explaining why a damp-proof course in a
building may not be necessary, and might just
do more harm than good. At a technical level,
there is huge potential for misunderstanding
the implications of increased insulation
levels and the requirements for buildings
to be ventilated effectively. For those of us
on the front line, there is very little written
information about these implications.

Energy calculations can be time consuming
and complex. While we are familiar with the
technology in the design of new buildings, this
technology is often not sophisticated enough to
deal with historic buildings, or to help predict
how the buildings will be used. Mark Hines
Architects has produced its own software to help
make these increasingly complex decisions.
There are currently no software companies
advertising in The Building Conservation
Directory, but I predict there soon will be.

LOOKING FORWARD

The conservation community is full of people
who believe passionately in the buildings
they work on. They fight their corner, demand
that the right decisions are made and ensure
that historic buildings can be enjoyed for
generations to come. As traditional roles in
the industry change, there is a new and ethical
role that heritage professionals can play. They
have had to become ‘guardians’ of historic
fabric, and their power to persuade others of
the significance of that fabric has become even
more important.

The conservation sector can also bring
real value in helping to cut carbon emissions.
More conservation professionals should be
using their skills and knowledge to improve the
sustainability of our existing building stock. We
should be trying to find new and better ways
to recycle these buildings while also finding
new applications for traditional methods and
materials. In short, we need to be less dogmatic
and more flexible in terms of how we think
about the historic environment, to be both
creative and conservative.

It is clear that many political, social,
economic, cultural, and technical challenges lie
ahead. Undoubtedly, there are conflicts inherent
in any discussion about sustainability and the
historic environment. But I do think a sideways
shift in thinking is happening. New areas
of work, well beyond the field of individual
buildings, are opening up. Understanding how
we can upgrade our historic building stock sits
alongside a growing interest in the importance
of places and of sensitive urban design. Master
planning, and estate management (especially
in relation to sustainability and energy
consumption) will continue to increase in
significance.

Never have conservationists been so well
placed to carry their work into the future. The
pioneering phase of their work done, there
must be a new generation of specialists ready to
work on the buildings that urgently need their
skills. They should be ready to expand their
ideas about how we define conservation, and
to help fight one of our age’s most important
battles: the fight against climate change.

The Building Conservation Directory,2011

Author

MARK HINES is a Lethaby Scholar and trained
with the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings. In 2006 he established his own
practice, Mark Hines Architects, which has
been responsible for a series of award-winning
projects. The practice has particular
skills in working with historic buildings and
their extension, adaptation and repair.